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The article presents a list of research papers on some proposed facilities other information centers related to information science. "A Retrieval System for Searching Defense Documentation Center Magnetic Tape Files," states that a document retrieval system was developed with the cooperation of the Defense Documentation Center. This report describes the logic of the computer program developed, and provides instructions for use of the program. "USAF Mechanical Properties Data Center," cover the continued operation of the U.S.A.F. Mechanical Properties Data Center, including the expansion of data files, capabilities, and data output.

Focuses on public opinion surveys in Japan. Organizations carrying out social surveys; Efforts of establish a national data library which would preserve survey data in computer-readable form.

A letter from the editor is presented in regards to large data systems. The editor includes the paper "The Computer—New Partner in Investment Management,' by Dr. Arnold E. Amstutz, which describes work done on such a system where the effort of understanding how it would be utilized and organized spread over seven years. He then discusses the changes of data resources in the ten years prior to the article as well as their uses.

This article investigates the reasons for underutilization of archival data. In his comprehensive book on secondary analysis, Herbert Hyman points out that the vast amount of survey data that has accumulated in the various data archives in the 1950s and 1960s has not been widely used by social scientists to make important contributions to the literature. One can hardly agree with the judgment that the data archives have been underutilized. Consider for instance, the amount of data in the Roper Public Opinion Research Center and the dearth of contributions to social scientific literature based on data from the Roper Center. The center has data from almost 10,000 surveys, gathered by 117 survey organizations in 68 countries and its collection is growing by 400 to 500 data sets per year. In view of the huge amount of data at the center, the contributions to the social scientific literature based on those data seem quite meager. A major reason for underutilization of archival data is ignorance and this ignorance must be primarily the result of inadequate graduate training. Graduate course work should explicitly deal with the use of archival data. If specialized courses in secondary analysis are not instituted, sections on archival data and secondary analysis should be included in graduate method courses in every department.

When a marketing-research project involves more than fifty or sixty cases and calls for some degree of cross-tabulation, accurate analysis is difficult unless the data are coded and transcribed. This article shows how the accuracy, speed, and flexibility of hand-tabulation methods may be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the development of a large-scale longitudinal file at SUNY-Binghamton. Structure of the archive; Ways of categorizing the data; Reliability of the data. INSET: BIOGRAPHY.

The article provides information about the paper "Centers for Storage and Retrieval of Scientific Information in the U.S.," published in the October 1963 issue of the journal "Analytical Chemistry." It describes twelve scientific information and data centers in the U.S. and the retrieval services offered by these centers.

The article stresses that researchers in the field of public opinion should pay more attention to available data for purposes of raising better problems for new surveys and interpreting survey results within broader frameworks. The author attempts to explore some of the possible differences between available data and new questionnaire data obtained by researchers themselves. The available data greatly extend the findings of the survey over space. They show the extent to which questionnaire findings from a single area may be consistent with information for the country as a whole. The available data are used in advance to formulate the theoretical problems for the new research. After the new data had been collected and analyzed, further recourse was made to existing materials, this time in order to interpret fully and develop the larger theoretical implications of the new research. It is obvious that the data which happen to be available on given topics will range enormously in scope and in theoretical potential.

The article presents a list of reports on design, testing and evaluation of information systems. Some of the reports included in the list are: "Evaluation of Science Communication Systems," "Recommended Approaches to Design of the U.S. Arniy Engineering Data and Information System," "An Analysis of the Multiple Instantaneous Response File," "Evaluation of the Impact of a Citation Index in Physics," and "A Technique for Utilizing the IBM or the RCA Random-Access Mass-Memory Devices to Store the Data Base of a Command and Control Information Processing System."

This report presents, discusses and extends strategic models for representing the process of merging records from different sources when confidentiality of the records is required by law or custom. Examples and variations on the models cover simple situations, such as eliciting anonymous data from previously identified respondents, as well as more complex merge operations, such as merging files from different data archives and merging data under code linkage systems. The versatility and potential corruptibility of the models are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies Kodak Minicard system to solve various problems related to documentation. The Photographic recording mediums have many advantages for information-handling purposes, they have not been fully exploited up to this time because certain difficulties have had to be overcome first. In the research and development program of the Eastman Kodak Co., there has been continuing progress in several fields of investigation so that some of the earlier difficulties have now been eliminated. The Kodak Minicard combines the desirable characteristics of microfilm and punched cards.

This article focuses on storage and retrieval of information by means of the association of ideas. The real heart of the matter of selection, however, goes deeper than a lag in the adoption of mechanisms by libraries, or a lack of development of devices for their use. When data of any sort are placed in storage, they are filed alphabetically or numerically, and information is found by tracing it down from subclass to subclass. The problem of bringing pertinent vocabularies into coincidence is the crucial one for all documentation systems whether operated by classifications, indexes, or machines. The system must display its vocabulary for selection.

The article reviews the development of Federal statistics since the establishment of a coordinating authority in 1933. The growing consensus that Federal statistical data must be interrelatable if analytical needs are to be adequately met is used as the basis for raising questions about the present adequacy of the Federal statistics organization. The idea of a Federal Statistical Data Center to achieve greater consistency of statistical series for interrelated uses and easier access to such data is reviewed along with suggestions for modifying the present organizational structure for producing a better coordinated body of Federal statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of social science data libraries has reemphasized many important methodological issues associated with contemporary research techniques. Since documentation of the data-gathering and coding processes is vital for the secondary analyst, considerable attention is focused upon these activities. As research workers become increasingly sensitized to the potential exploitation of their data by others, there is a tendency for them to document their activities in greater detail. Since data libraries are energetic in their attempts to obtain such documentation, this activity is being emphasized repeatedly. While it is often submerged somewhat by individuals working with information collected by them personally in a familiar milieu with an opportunity to establish an unequivocal shared understanding with the source of the information regarding each specific datum, this understanding is problematic for the secondary analyst.

The article presents information on the challenges faced by museums to meet the growing demand of marine specimens prompted by the popularity of oceanography. Museums are perplexed with the increasing accumulation of data associated with the individual specimens, and the necessity for these data to be recorded in greater detail. It is stated that museums can respond to the challenge of oceanography and develop a new role as an information resource of value to the marine science community through introduction of computer information storage and retrieval systems.

The article presents a study that examines the quality control of digitized data and the inclusion of essential and meaningful checkpoints. The authors discuss the collection of vast amounts of data for biological research and methods of organized storage to ensure efficient retrieval. Models of data storage are detailed.